Healthy Air at School

To grow into healthy adults, our children need to breathe healthy air.  With healthy air at school, they can learn and play safely.   You have the power to identify and solve unhealthy air issues that threaten kids in your own community's schools.
Fixing the Problems
Most unhealthy indoor air problems are simple and inexpensive to fix.  We can help you with tips for simple solutions and links to professional assistance to handle more difficult problems.

How to Keep Air at School Healthy

Encourage your schools and district to adopt programs designed to manage indoor air quality and keep children healthy.

• IAQ Tools for Schools

The Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the American Lung Association, has designed the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools program that can help your school provide healthy air.  The program is designed to give schools the information and skills they need to manage air quality in a low-cost, practical manner. It helps schools prevent potential problems and efficiently manage them should they occur.

The kit includes easy-to-use checklists with a flexible, step-by-step guide; indoor air quality problem-solving wheel; facts on indoor air pollution sources, symptoms, and solutions; training videos; and sample documents.

• HealthySEAT

Keeping track of air quality issues in multiple schools can be a big task. The Environmental Protection Agency has designed a program for school district officials to do just that. This free, self-audit software is a unique tool that helps school districts evaluate their facilities for key environmental, safety, and health issues. 

The Healthy School Environments Assessment Tool can be downloaded from the EPA website at no cost to school districts, states and others to help them establish and implement fully integrated and comprehensive self assessments of each of their school facilities.

School and district officials, click here for more tools and information to keep air healthy.

Healthy Air Outdoors

The quality of the air we breathe outdoors affects each of us. Unhealthy air is hazardous to our families and can even threaten life itself.

Protecting Your Health

Outdoor air pollution threatens the lives and health of millions of people in the United States. Despite great progress since passage of the modern Clean Air Act in 1970, outdoor air can be unhealthy and dangerous. Even as we explore the complex challenges of global warming and energy use, air pollution remains a widespread problem. 

Fighting for Healthy Air

The American Lung Association has been leading the fight for healthy air for more than 20 years. Our primary tool is advocacy. We work to influence public policy and ensure that laws and regulations designed to clean up the air are enforced.

In-Depth Resources

Learn more about the sources and health risks of outdoor air pollution and efforts underway to make our air cleaner.

Defending the Clean Air Act

The American Lung Association is working to protect the public health from air pollution. We are defending the Clean Air Act to ensure that all Americans can have air that is safe and healthy to breathe.

Healthy Air at Work

Employees should be safe while on the job; that includes protecting the health of their lungs. Dirty air in the workplace threatens workers' lives. 

Healthy Air at Work

Healthy air quality is an important element of any safe work environment. Do you think there might be an air quality problem in your workplace?

Resources

Look below to learn more about healthy air at work.

Protecting Air at Work

Although many laws have been passed to protect workers, problems with air quality on the job are often overlooked. Find out what our community, state and federal governments can do to protect you and your coworkers.

Protecting Your Health

Learn what air pollution is, where it comes from, and how it can harm you and your family.

Impacts on Your Health

Natural defenses protect our lungs from germs and large particles like dust and pollen. Air pollution harms lung tissue directly and bypasses or weakens those important defenses. Air pollution can make your eyes water, irritate your nose, mouth and throat, and make you cough and wheeze. But most important, it can worsen lung diseases like asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. It can even kill.

What Makes Air Unhealthy?

Unhealthy air comes from dirty power plants, dirty diesel cars and trucks, and heavy construction equipment, to name a few sources. Even natural sources like fires and dust contribute to air pollution. Find out what’s in unhealthy air and where it comes from.

Protect Yourself

You can reduce the harm that dirty air can do to you and your family. Here are some tips to minimize your exposure to dangerous air pollutants. The more information you have, the healthier you can be.